Martin Gardner: Mathemagician
The universe is almost like a huge magic trick
“The universe is almost like a huge magic trick,” says Martin Gardner. Many world-renowned scientists, mathematicians and magicians agree.
Featured guests who have been influenced by Gardner include: magicians Max Maven and Michael Weber; mathematician and legendary computer hacker Bill Gosper; Harvard professor and card wizard Persi Diaconnis; renowned math genius John Horton Conway of Princeton; and Ron Graham, acrobat, juggler and chief scientist for AT&T Research.
Gardner first got hooked on math as a young boy, when his father gave him a book on puzzles. Today, he is revered by some of the best brains in the worlds of mathematics and magic, largely through the influence of his monthly Scientific American Mathematical Games column.
Martin Gardner is one of the most beloved personalities in the areas of recreational mathematics, magic and puzzles. The influence of his work is immeasurable. He is the author of more than 65 books and countless articles, ranging over the fields of science, mathematics, philosophy, literature, and conjuring.
His best-selling book has been The Annotated Alice, an analysis of Lewis Carroll‘s Alice in Wonderland, followed by a sequel, More Annotated Alice. He has written two novels — The Flight of Peter Fromm and Visitors from Oz. His Scientific American columns are collected in fifteen volumes. The No-Sided Professors is a collection of his short fiction.
Martin has inspired and enlightened three generations of readers with the delights of mathematical recreations, the amazing phenomena of numbers, magic and puzzles, the play of ideas.
